BART announces new safety measures in aftermath of recent...

2of 8A Bart police officer patrols the side gate on the main floor of the Civic Center Bart Station in San Francisco.Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

3of 8The unprovoked fatal stabbing of Nia Wilson, 18, of Oakland, on July 22, 2018, on a platform at BART's MacArthur Station, has spurred the transit agency to announce new safety measures for passengers.Photo: Handout, Courtesy family of Nia Wilson

4of 8Passengers aboard a San Francisco bound train wait for the doors to close at the 19th Street BART station in Oakland, Calif. on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018. BART is setting up a bus bridge between the West Oakland station and the 19th Street and Lake Merritt stations during selected weekends in August and September to perform critical track work.Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

5of 8A BART train arrives at the West Oakland Station as police officers investigate a shooting outside the station in January.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle

6of 8Commuters wait on the plaform as a train arrives at the 19th Street BART station in Oakland, Calif. on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018. BART is setting up a bus bridge between the West Oakland station and the 19th Street and Lake Merritt stations during selected weekends in August and September to perform critical track work.Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

8of 8Sgtt Togonon (middle) talks with BART Oofficer Maloney (left) as they start the new public safety plan for the system at West Oakland Station following a string of stabbings. At right is Officer Cunningham.Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle

Rattled by the July 22 killing of 18 year-old Nia Wilson and other violent crimes, BART officials on Monday laid out a detailed plan to improve public safety on the rail system’s lines.

For the next three weeks, BART will increase police patrols on trains and inside stations. The agency will also boost security training for employees, test security alarms and sensors, install new emergency call boxes on train platforms and upgrade its surveillance camera network with new digital cameras and new video screens.

BART board member Bevan Dufty acknowledged the recent violence on the transit system, particularly Wilson’s slaying as she waited to board a train, has eroded riders’ sense of safety.

“Nia’s murder just decimated public perception,” said Dufty, who represents San Francisco. Only one thing will alleviate riders’ fears: seeing more people in uniform on BART, he said.

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In a case that has drawn national attention, Wilson was fatally stabbed in the neck in an unprovoked attack by a man on a BART platform as she was about to board a train at the MacArthur Station. Her attacker also stabbed her 26-year-old sister, Lahtifa. John Lee Cowell, 27, is charged with murder and attempted murder in the case.

Then, over the weekend, a college student was assaulted at Richmond Station.

On Monday, BART’s Deputy Police Chief Lance Haight took pains to stress that overall the system is “very safe.”

“We have over 400,000 riders a day, and the vast majority of those riders make it from their original station to their destination without any incident whatsoever,” Haight said during a news conference at West Oakland Station.

Nonetheless, the agency has struggled for years with increasing ridership and an understaffed police force. BART is making progress, Haight said, noting that the agency hired 28 officers in the last year-and-a-half, bringing the total number of its sworn law enforcement staff to 191. BART still has 25 vacant positions to fill, and it’s fighting a war of attrition as officers keep retiring, Dufty said.

The regional homelessness and opioid crises have also jolted BART, Haight said. More people are sleeping on the train seats or taking shelter in the stations. On that note, BART announced Monday that it plans to accelerate construction of barriers to prevent fare evasion and add a fare enforcement team during the evenings.

Additionally, BART officials are pressing for a ban on panhandling in paid areas of stations. It would need approval from the agency’s Board of Directors.

“BART has always been focused on public safety but it’s clear that we must do even more,” General Manager Grace Crunican said in a statement announcing the reforms.

Some commuters Monday agreed, saying that the steady pile-on of violent crime has made them more apprehensive about riding BART.

“My awareness is definitely a little more heightened,” said Arnoldo Hernandez, 33, of San Francisco as he clutched a skateboard on the West Oakland platform.

Yet not everyone believes that increasing police patrols is the answer.

“It would be better if they just fixed the technology,” said Victoria Lavender, 25, of San Francisco, referring to the system’s stock of surveillance cameras — some of which are outdated.

BART board member Nick Josefowitz, who acknowledged he was shaken by the recent crime spree, said he plans to introduce a series of proposals at Thursday’s board meeting. Many of his ideas are similar to the plans rolled out Monday.

Josefowitz has other priorities, as well. He’s urging BART to automatically publish daily crime and arrest information from its police database. He wants the agency to add facial recognition technology to its cameras and convene law enforcement and social services from the four counties that BART serves — San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda and Contra Costa — to address the epidemic of homelessness and mental health issues that is spilling onto the Bay Area’s mass transit lines.

“It’s happening in our city parks, parking lots, public plazas and so many of our public places,” Josefowitz said. “As a result, the quality of life in our public spaces is deteriorating and in many cases crime is increasing.”

BART board member Lateefah Simon said she too wants to see public safety increased. However, she’s urging the agency to consider alternatives to adding police.

“The answer is not all cops,” she told The Chronicle. “It’s community. It’s ambassador programs. It’s also cities doing everything they can to take care of those who are mentally ill.”

Rachel Swan covers transportation for The Chronicle. She joined the paper in 2015 and has also reported on politics in Oakland and San Francisco.

Previously, Rachel held staff positions at the SF Weekly and the East Bay Express, where she covered technology, law and the arts. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in rhetoric from the University of California, Berkeley.